Tutorial - Workshop1
Amateur Radio Digital Information and
Communication Technologies in Education
by Miroslav “Misko” Skoric, YT7MPB
Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad
The amateur radio is an old fine hobby from the days of inventing
the Morse alphabet and implementing telegraphy. Since the
second half of the 19th century, millions of volunteers learned new
skills in communications – while attending the amateur radio
courses and successfully passed examinations; got their first radio
licenses and started transmitting signals to the spectrum.
The electronics industry recognized the incoming ‘flood’ of the new
communicating enthusiasts, coming from all over the world and
predicted them to be a good market very soon. Today we have a lot of opportunities
to purchase sophisticated and computerized amateur radio ‘gadgets’ – that include
fascinating traditional and brand new communication modes. Besides telegraphy and
radio telephony, there are a variety of computer-related possibilities to explore. As a
result, today the modern radio amateurs are capable to establish exciting radio paths
via Moon or artificial satellites, conducting short discussions with crews on the space
ships, even to make an urgent search for medicines – using their computers.
My first contact with the amateur radio was in early eighties when I signed for a radio
course. In those days there were no personal computers available so I had to take a
manual Morse alphabet school. I must admit, I haven’t learned more than few
telegraphy characters and soon after – I gave up. Then appeared a pretty long
period of time when I did not make much effort to re-join the amateur radio
community. I had to finish with my early school days and make an important decision
on what profession I would like to continue to educate for. You bet, I quickly found an
answer and it was the electrical school. I knew that there would be lots of various
instruments, electronics circuits, antennas, early pocket calculators and other
interesting stuff. And after some years, I became a qualified electrician – likely to
learn more and explore new worlds of technology. Then it was the time to pick a
university and the best bet was to sign with the electrical engineering one. Well, you
know, those days I preferred music and dating with young ladies – rather than to visit
department’s physics labs – so I switched to a business computing faculty. I
graduated with over-an-average marks, as an informatics system designer.
But, at the time of getting my first engineering degree, I was deeply involved in local
amateur radio activities. In fact, during my undergraduate education, I got in touch
with computer systems and knew I would handle them through the rest of my career.
1
If local radio-amateurs, who live in areas around the conference venue, provide technical equipment for
practical demonstrations, it will be a workshop. Otherwise, it will be a tutorial.
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Somehow, the first “Commodore 64” computer found a place in the local ‘ham’ (ham
is the amateur radio) club and my buddies and me made a wired link to the radio
station. After the years of speaking to microphones, it was exciting to establish our
very first keyboard-to-keyboard chat. You know, during the late eighties, in this area
almost nobody knew of things like the Internet e-mail, messages via cell telephones
etc. Besides chatting we were able to exchange text and binary (program) files. And
not only that: We did that at almost no cost, because we only used our radio
transmitters! I mean, there were no ISP services included; neither was we given bills
for communicating over the fixed or mobile infrastructure. Having an opportunity to
move the club’s technical equipment to the local school we got a chance to motivate
the students to join us. Soon after, a bunch of school kids became the regular club’s
members and participants of the amateur radio courses we offered. The same or
similar history many ham groups can tell. That is why we want to motivate more
educational institutions to join the global amateur radio family. The hobby gives
various opportunities for all – some of them are very affordable solutions for remote
schools in rural areas or developing countries. This tutorial intends to give more
instructions on how to start with the amateur radio and how to use both radio and
computer technology for the same purpose.
Abstract
The tutorial begins with introductory information about the amateur radio
communications and continues with studying one of the most popular computerrelated radio communication modes: the VHF/UHF and HF “packet-radio” (other
popular modes, like “amtor”, “pactor”, “g-tor”, “clover” etc. are also the options). The
tutorial discusses (with examples) on how to choose inexpensive hardware and
software needed for establishing the amateur radio links from either home or work.
The tutorial explains step-by-step how to build an AMUNET – the Amateur Radio
University Network – a grid of radio stations within or between universities’ campuses
and surrounding schools, including an opportunity to become a low-cost solution for
communicating in educational institutions in rural areas and developing countries.
Scope
This is a survey of several topics:
-
Scientific and social roles of the amateur radio in a community;
-
Description of basic two-way computer-related radio links, as well as more
complex communications over ‘digipeaters’ (digital repeaters, relay stations);
-
Using of the amateur radio satellites;
-
Connectivity to the TCP/IP world i.e. the Internet;
-
Hardware choices (modems, radios, antennas, computers) and software
(servers, clients, repeaters);
-
Regulatory questions, consequences and solutions (new proposal of ADL
license);
-
Influence of the amateur radio to the national and international regulatory
system;
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-
AMUNETs – the Amateur Radio University Networks, funding the further
projects and development.
Intended Audience
-
IEEE, ACM, IAENG student members (and other students as well);
-
Teaching personnel of academia, high-grade and elementary schools;
-
Authorities and institutions in developing countries and rural areas in general,
humanitarian entities (first aid etc), scientific expeditions organizers etc;
-
Local radio amateurs, local ham clubs and national radio union(s); non-forprofit societies, and other technical-related volunteers;
-
Officials of ITU (Int’l Telecommunication Union), WARC-WRC (World
Administrative
Radio
Conference),
agencies
and
ministries
of
communications, science and education;
-
Businesses like civil engineering, road and train builders etc., which can also
build their own radio infrastructure and private networks – using the same or
similar principles as the amateur packet-radio.
Motivation
According to the instructor’s two-decade experience in the amateur radio, the
significant percentage of school kids (and youngsters in general) – being involved in
that traditional and useful technical hobby – continues with their education in areas
of telecommunications, computing, mathematics, electronics and other engineering
disciplines. That means the early stage of practicing the amateur radio activities is a
high motivating factor for many young students. On the other side, after the initial
investments in the amateur radio communicating equipment, described in the tutorial
– there are almost no other costs – either before, during and after establishing
exciting amateur radio communications because there are no fixed and cell
telephony infrastructure included, nor the commercial Internet service providers. That
significantly improves the ROI and offers a lot of opportunities for education
institutions in poor countries and remote communities elsewhere. Having in mind that
the radio amateurs live all around the world – that is for sure their equipment and
knowledge can and should be used on behalf local and global communications. After
all, some of the radio amateur enthusiasts participate to scientific and professional
events, contribute technical papers, tutorial and seminar proposals, as well as
magazine or journal articles – and all of them improve the state of technical culture.
One important role that the radio amateurs often perform is to re-establish
communications after natural disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes etc). Finally, the
thematic of the tutorial is a sublimation of computer, communication and educational
technologies that are parts of DICTAP 2012 areas of interests.
Objective
What will the participants learn?
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-
What is the amateur radio, who are the radio amateurs, how to find and join
them;
-
What is needed to establish a simplest computer communication between two
users;
-
How to solve the problem of natural or artificial obstacle between two (or
more) users;
-
What are the advantages of communication with the amateur radio satellites;
-
How to exchange an e-mail without an ISP connection or without a telephone;
-
How to choose the proper modem, radio, antenna and computer;
-
How to fight against potential amateur radio 'pirates' (hackers);
-
What regulatory changes are needed to establish more amateur computer
networks;
-
What topics and questions belong to the new suggested ADL license’s
curricula;
-
How to make the local AMUNET and how to link it to a neighboring one;
Prior History
Tutorials of the same or similar type were presented during the following
conferences: INFOTECH 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 (Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia); JISA
2004, 2005 (Herceg Novi, Montenegro), IEEE-EESTEC Technical Conference 2004
(Rende-Cosenza, Italy, http://www.asiunical.org/eestec/workshop/2004/cosenza/eng/intro.php),
WSEAS CSCC 2006 (Athens, Greece, http://worldses.org/conferences/2006/greece/iccom/),
IEEE EUROCON 2007 (Warsaw, Poland, http://eurocon2007.isep.pw.edu.pl), WSEAS EE
2008 (Heraklion, Greece, http://www.wseas.org/conferences/2008/greece/education/), IARIA
ICWMC 2008 (Athens, Greece, http://www.iaria.org/conferences2008/ICWMC08.html),
TELFOR 2008 (Belgrade, Serbia), IAENG IMECS 2009 (Hong Kong, China,
http://www.iaeng.org/IMECS2009),
WSEAS
EE
2009
(Rhodes,
Greece,
http://www.wseas.us/conferences/2009/rodos/education/), IEEE ICACT 2010 (Phoenix Park,
Korea, http://www.icact.org/), DIRF NDT 2010 (Prague, Czech Republic,
http://www.dirf.org/ndt2010),
IAENG
IMECS
2011
(Hong
Kong,
China,
http://www.iaeng.org/IMECS2011), and SDIWC ICIEIS 2011 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
http://www.sdiwc.net/kl/). The main parts of the tutorial (basic principles, hardware,
software, security and privacy, regulatory issues etc) were presented as technical
papers during the following conferences: INFOTECH 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008;
JISA 2002, 2003; YU-INFO 2002, 2003 (Kopaonik, Serbia); INFOFEST 2002, 2003
(Budva, Montenegro); TELFOR 2002, 2003; LINUXFEST 2002 (Belgrade, Serbia);
IEEE ICALT-TEDC 2004 (Joensuu, Finland); PSU-UNS ICEE 2005 (Novi Sad,
Serbia); WSEAS CSCC 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 (Greece).
Outline
 Introduction of the amateur radio (basic principles, main ideas and goals)

What the radio amateurs do and how they establish their communications
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
How to find and join an amateur radio group (a ‘ham club’, a union etc)
 Simple computer-related radio communications, ‘packet-radio’

Direct link between two computer users

Description of splitting information to smaller ‘packets’

Indirect link over a repeater (incl. 3D simulation)

Security and privacy in the amateur digital radio
 Opportunities of amateur packet-radio satellites (PACSATs)2

Additional equipment needed (special antennas and positioning devices)

Two protocols used (‘broadcast’ and ‘ftpl0’)

Signal flow diagram
 Exchanging e-mail using an amateur radio BBS system
1st hour
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardware needed for the
amateur computer-related
communications


Special
modems
(several examples of
types,
speeds,
connectivity etc)
Radio stations (types,
output
capabilities,
power supply etc)
Features:








Antennas

Computers (PC XT,
AT,
i386,
i486,
Pentium, non-PC etc)
Independence from wired/cell telephony
Low power consuming
Long lasting communication link at low
cost
Real-time communication
Text and binary files exchange
Mobility on remote locations
E-mail system included
 Software solutions

Server side (DOS, Windows, Linux systems)

Client side (OS-included software, other software)

Repeaters’ programs
2nd hour
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regulatory environment – national and international legal issues

Obligatory manual Morse code course and test (comparison with other ICT
areas)

ADL – Amateur Digital License, requirements/curricula and opportunities
“Calling all radio amateurs”
Radio amateurs worldwide are being asked to help collect data from the student-built SSETI Express satellite,
due to be placed in orbit on 27 September. To encourage them, ESA’s Education department has organized two
competitions and is supplying free downloadable software.
2
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMARJ7X9DE_index_0.html
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 Foreign experience


Universities on the West
(examples on what they
have been doing in the
amateur radio)
General approach on the
hobby
in
developed
nations
 Networking opportunities


AMUNET
–
Amateur
University Network (local
area, MAN etc)
ADL






Computer and radio hardware
Operating systems and ‘ham’ digital
software
Configuration of radio modems and
other equipment (antennas, ground
etc)
RFI – Radio frequency interference
issues
Regulatory set of questions (band
plan etc)
Foreign language (in written test)
Widening the network
(surrounding countries, global connections)
3rd hour
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio amateurs and their roles in a society

Voluntary and humanitarian role of the radio amateur communications:
examples on recent disasters, as Katrina hurricane in the USA – where the
amateurs voluntarily helped to the local community to save human lives, etc3

Scientific role – Improving the level of technical knowledge in a society

Joining the professional communities and education (IEEE, ACM etc)

Conference and journal papers

Improving domestic and international regulatory environment
 What else can be done

Scientific expeditions to remote and developing areas4
“Ham Radio Operator Heads South To Aid Post-Katrina Communications” (“Computerworld”)
- After watching steady stream of TV coverage showing the horrific conditions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,
ham radio operator Dennis Motschenbacher had had enough. He headed for Mississippi, and Computerworld
plans to follow him along his journey.
http://www.computerworld.com/newsletter/0,4902,104446,00.html?nlid=MW2
3
“Ham radio volunteers help re-establish communications after Katrina” (“Computerworld”)
- Volunteer ham radio operators are coming to the aid of relief agencies and emergency officials to help with
badly needed communications in areas of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi ravaged early last week by
Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/recovery/story/0,10801,104418,00.html
4
There is a variety of research projects conducted at remote areas all around the world and some of their
announcements can be seen on the amateur radio mailing lists from time to time, like this one:
>
>
>expeditionradio <expeditionradio@aol.com> wrote:
>
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
Connecting with astronauts, ship crews

Interconnections to/from TCP/IP world

International summer (winter) school on the amateur radio
4th hour
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biography
The instructor has 20 years of experience in computer network administration and
system maintenance (B.Sc. in Business Computing) and 20+ years of practice in the
amateur radio (licensed amateur since 1989, amateur radio call sign YT7MPB). The
instructor has been maintaining various types of amateur radio bulletin board
systems (MS DOS, Windows and Linux platforms) with VHF/HF radio frequency and
Internet inputs/outputs in the local amateur radio union and clubs-societies. The
instructor voluntarily served as the information manager and union’s secretary during
the nineties – where he was compiling technical and scientific information for
broadcasting via local amateur radio frequencies and repeaters. Teaching
experience includes several classes in a local high-school amateur radio club;
technical paper presentations during domestic and international events listed above;
tutorials on the amateur radio in engineering education, one round-table session, two
book chapters and several magazine/journal articles, as well as a dedicated web
page http://tldp.org/HOWTO/FBB.html having a popular amateur radio software
users’ manual. The instructor's researching efforts include his graduate studies in
Computer Sciences, as well as his membership in IEEE Computer Society, IEEE
Communications Society, IEEE Education Society, IAENG and ACM.
>Gulf Coast USA, Caribbean, or South America base station operators are needed for communication on the
>ham bands with a scientific expedition in July-August 2004.
>
>The 60 day expedition will explore deep caves in the high Andes mountains and jungle in the western Amazon
>area of South America.
>
>Expedition access to the remote areas is via trekking on foot and pack animal.
>
>Operators with good base stations, efficient antennas and/or low noise locations are needed to communicate
>with the expedition on the HF amateur bands 7, 10, 14, 18, or 21 MHz. Any of the following modes are
>available: PSK31, MT63, MFSK, CW, or SSB.
>
>The expedition will use a 20 Watt backpack transceiver with a wire dipole or vertical, combined with a
>miniature notebook computer for digital modes. Battery operation will be using solar power.
>
>The communications will consist of position reports, some short messages with families of expedition
>members, and any possible emergency or medical messages. Some relays of short text messages via email
>would be appreciated. All operation will be non-commercial.
>
>If you are interested, please reply by email.
>
>Bonnie Crystal KQ6XA
>2004 Expedition radio operator
>
>
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References
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






Skoric, M. (2012). Simulation in amateur packet radio networks. In Al-Bahadili, H.
(Ed.), Simulation in Computer Network Design and Modeling: Use and Analysis
(pp. 216–256). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Skoric, M. (2009). Amateur radio in education. In Song, H., & Kidd, T. (Eds.),
Handbook of Research on Human Performance and Instructional Technology
(pp. 223–245). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Skoric, M. (2009). The new amateur radio university network – AMUNET (Part 4).
In Proceedings of the 13th WSEAS International Conference on Computers, (pp.
323–328). Athens, Greece: World Scientific and Engineering Academy and
Society.
Skoric, M. (2008). The new amateur radio university network – AMUNET (Part 3).
In Proceedings of the 12th WSEAS International Conference on Computers, (pp.
432–439). Athens, Greece: World Scientific and Engineering Academy and
Society.
Skoric, M. (2007). Summer schools on the amateur radio computing. In
Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and
Technology in Computer Science Education, (p. 346). New York, NY: Association
for Computing Machinery.
Skoric, M. (2006). The new amateur radio university network – AMUNET (Part 2).
In Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on Computers, (pp.
45–50). Athens, Greece: World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society.
Skoric, M. (2005). The perspectives of the amateur university networks –
AMUNETs. WSEAS Transactions on Communications, 4, 834–845.
Skoric, M. (2004). The amateur radio as a learning technology in developing
countries. In Proceedings of the 4th IEEE International Conference on Advanced
Learning Technologies, (pp. 1029–1033). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Press.
Supplementary Materials
The instructor’s web page is: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/FBB.html
The visual presentation of tutorial in MS Power Point ™ format has 150 slides.
Additional materials will be provided by amateur radio manufacturers, printed
handouts, and quiz awards for most active participants!
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